Consultation on draft EMR delivery plan published

Friday, September 27, 2013

DECC has published a consultation on the draft Electricity Market Reforms (EMR) delivery plan. This sets out details on draft strike prices, the modeling methodology behind them and some detail on plans for a capacity market. This is aimed at encouraging sufficient investment in the total reliable capacity needed during periods of high demand, thereby improving system reliability.

A consultation on transitional arrangements has also been published alongside the draft delivery plan, detailing support arrangements for new renewable electricity capacity as we move from the Renewables Obligation to the strike prices/Contracts for Difference system. Developers will be able to choose which support mechanism they wish to apply for during the transitional period from mid 2014 to the end of March 2017 with the Renewables Obligation closing for new generation from the 31 March 2017.

The draft EMR delivery plan makes clear the thinking behind the draft strike price levels that have been published to date. It explains that they have been set in line with providing similar support levels as the outgoing Renewables Obligation for relevant technologies, taking into account the different support timescales under the two systems.

As far as the capacity market is concerned, new capacity under this arrangement is not expected to be delivered until 2018/19. The consultations close on 25 September 2013 with a final version of the delivery plan due to be published in December this year.